Devices including various measurement units for obtaining biometric information about a user or environmental information about the surrounding environment have been developed (e.g., Patent Literature 1). A device described in Patent Literature 1 includes a plurality of measurement units and a notification unit. Also, various sensor elements have been developed to detect physical quantities including temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and a light level. Micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) sensor elements (hereafter also referred to as MEMS sensors) using MEMS technology, which are compact and consume low power, now receive attention. Such compact and low power MEMS sensor elements may be incorporated in a single device, enabling the design of a sensor including multiple different sensor elements.
A sensor with this structure can detect physical quantities associated with, for example, an office environment or a living space, and can obtain, for example, various items of information such as biometric information and environmental information, in addition to energy-related information such as electric power. Such information can then be used to support multidirectional analysis and use of information.
A sensor including multiple sensor elements has been typically installed at a fixed location for continuously measuring the environment for a fixed duration. However, compact sensors developed recently are often carried away from their installation locations and are used at different locations. For such sensors, items of target information to be obtained and suitable methods for obtaining such information may differ between when they are fixed at installation locations and when they are away from the installation locations. Sensors responding to such requests have not been achieved yet.